The Phoenix Foundation “All in an Afternoon”

This video is animated, but it took me a while to work out what exactly was going on. It involves simple doodles and line drawings, in black on a curious honeycomb-shaped grid. There was something strangely familiar about all of it, but it wasn’t until near the end of the video that it becomes obvious – it’s in the style of a Magna Doodle.
As it happens, the animation has been made in a much higher resolution than the pixelly magnetic cells of an actual Magna Doodle, but the video takes inspiration from the random stuff that kids create on such toys. There’s optical illusions, chunky lettering, and 3D backgrounds.

It’s almost a bit disappointing when likenesses of the band appear, as it’s obviously based on actual video footage and not a drawing. I think I’d enjoy this video more if it looked like it had been made on a Magna Doodle. (BTW, it can be done – I found this video that was animated using actual Magna Doodle sketches.)

But as things are, it’s still a delightfully quirky video. The only thing missing – the video didn’t end with the image being wiped across.